More Roads to Solve our Problems? I don't think so (Houston: car registration, insurance)

[Gravy Train]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

So what you're implying is, by choosing to send your child to one of these districts if you could afford another, or instead of living in an outermost suburb, you're actually shortchanging your child and hurting their life prospects.

Woah, that's not what I'm implying and there's little direct correlation that by location or name alone, their experience in one school district over another will directly influence their future.

IF the location is still affordable, still attainable and reasonable among lifestyle qualities, the choice of public school should be focused on what offers the best ENVIRONMENT for the child/student. I firmly believe the environment at HOME and relationship with the parent is far more important than the school, teachers and classmates.

So, it's worth getting into competitive price bidding for the "preferred" suburban ISDs or spending extra commute time to live in an outermost suburb where the schools are still considered OK (better than the inner suburbs). This is the whole dynamic that I'm trying to elucidate that has a large share of responsibility for many of the complaints being lodged in this forum conversation.

It's unfortunate, but rarely can one family influence significant improvements to an ISD with systemic problems, especially when those problems relate to budget, quality of staff, access to special needs and community-rooted socioeconomic divides.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Gravy Train

Woah, that's not what I'm implying and there's little direct correlation that by location or name alone, their experience in one school district over another will directly influence their future.

IF the location is still affordable, still attainable and reasonable among lifestyle qualities, the choice of public school should be focused on what offers the best ENVIRONMENT for the child/student. I firmly believe the environment at HOME and relationship with the parent is far more important than the school, teachers and classmates.



It's unfortunate, but rarely can one family influence significant improvements to an ISD with systemic problems, especially when those problems relate to budget, quality of staff, access to special needs and community-rooted socioeconomic divides.

Your statement sounds good. As if families should therefore rightly consider the affordable inner suburban districts, including those to which I've referred.

But then the second part of your response is pretty harsh. Are you pretty much then lumping most or all of the affordable inner suburban districts under this negative umbrella? It's also seemingly contradictory to your first statement.

[Gravy Train]

It might seem harsh and DISD was at the forefront of my mind when writing the second part of my response, but I can see the less-mentioned districts around Dallas facing some of the same problems. I don't have the time, money or effort to get involved and become a contributor to their situations, so I'd rather remove myself from the equation.

There was a time when I crossed Valley Ranch off my list over Irving ISD and the 'Clockmed Mohammed' scandal. Thankfully, I don't believe Irving ISD settled with that family.

They're not all lumped in together and there are some near-Dallas districts doing exceptionally well, like RISD and Sunnyvale.

[J800]

Disclaimer: I don't live in any of the "okay" areas mentioned.

A friend of mine was searching for sub-$250K homes in the North Dallas burbs and was having quite a bit of trouble. I told him to look into Grand Prairie. There's an elementary school there that rivals the "top" elementary schools in DISD (Lakewood, Stonewall, etc.) and the usual suburban schools. I also told him that the middle school in this area was fantastic (not my personal opinion, this is supported by hard data).

He simply told me he didn't want to live "south of Dallas", for whatever reason. I think a lot of people here are afraid when they hear the word "south" mentioned. The truth is, a lot of great areas with solid schooling options are in the Southern burbs that are also affordable and within a reasonable commute to major job centers. A lot of people simply don't want to live there for whatever reason.

[Soonhun]

Unless a school is actually dangerous, falling apart, or missing key things like AP classes/sports/fine arts, does it really matter? Speaking as someone who went through a "bad" or "mediocre" school by this forum's standards, I feel like an individual can do just as well at one of the top local public schools or a not so good school. The student's own motivation to succeed, which likely won't have to do with how reputable a school is, much more important, as is the input of the student's guardians. I even know a number of smart students whose parents purposely sent them to worse schools because the parents expected (correctly, for the most part) that it would be an easy way for their children to rank higher. As far as I am aware, neither them nor I did any worse than our peers at Plano in things like the SATs, AP tests, or college admissions

[Joe33]

Originally Posted by Parhe

Unless a school is actually dangerous, falling apart, or missing key things like AP classes/sports/fine arts, does it really matter? Speaking as someone who went through a "bad" or "mediocre" school by this forum's standards, I feel like an individual can do just as well at one of the top local public schools or a not so good school. The student's own motivation to succeed, which likely won't have to do with how reputable a school is, much more important, as is the input of the student's guardians. I even know a number of smart students whose parents purposely sent them to worse schools because the parents expected (correctly, for the most part) that it would be an easy way for their children to rank higher. As far as I am aware, neither them nor I did any worse than our peers at Plano in things like the SATs, AP tests, or college admissions

I agree 100%
I went thru 6th grade in beautiful but lousy schools. My parents finally decided to move away and home schooled us. 5 kids and all did great in their lives. I did the same for my kids and grand kids. we all went back to public school in 12th grade and were top of our classes. Home school was generally about 3 hours per day.

[NoClueWho]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

To the extent people complain they can't find affordable enough housing, if that's part of your complaint, which it seems it is, then it is also your hangup.

BS. The two CAN be mutually exclusive. Heck, every person with that complaint (which is a totally legitimate complaint) doesn't even HAVE children, so if that's YOUR hangup and the issue that YOU choose to push, you can't automatically assign it to everybody else. Stop trying to paint everybody who doesn't agree with you with a broad brush, just to try to launch your own personal crusade. That never works.

[jgn2013]

Originally Posted by Gravy Train

Individual school performance in those ISDs are hit-and-miss, with many experiencing socioeconomic variances that may be out of one's comfort zone.

Those same ISDs weren't considered 'desired' since my time in school (20 years removed), and it's difficult for me to see how public education has improved since, aside from access to technology, updated vocational programs, STEM programs and introduction to foreign language.

Socioeconomic variances - i.e., too many non-white kids. They want just enough Asians to provide a challenge but not so many that Billy and Becky can't even finish in the top 20%. Blacks and Latinos, well.....

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by Mentallect

BS. The two CAN be mutually exclusive. Heck, every person with that complaint (which is a totally legitimate complaint) doesn't even HAVE children, so if that's YOUR hangup and the issue that YOU choose to push, you can't automatically assign it to everybody else. Stop trying to paint everybody who doesn't agree with you with a broad brush, just to try to launch your own personal crusade. That never works.

Look, it certainly appears that the big price increases in housing - where it's very difficult to find homes under $300K - are largely occurring in suburbs where the "preferred" school zones are, plus certain trendy urban core neighborhoods (which sometimes also have "preferred" schools). It's clear that many other relatively conveniently located suburbs that are still quite affordable. So, why all the complaining about home prices being driven up too high, when those affordable options are still very much there? Is it really that much of a step down to live somewhere other than Plano / Frisco / Coppell / Southlake / Flower Mound / McKinney etc.?

The very same question could be aimed at the newcomers from the coasts. If they weren't so hung up on living in the "preferred" school zones, they would spread themselves out much more, and the overall price appreciation impacts would be much more modest in places like Plano etc., though I admit there would probably be some modest upward impacts in the "non-preferred" suburbs.

And I should note that these things apply regardless of whether the home buyer has children or not. Folks without kids get pointed toward "preferred" school zones because of "resale implications" all the time. Well, maybe it's time to change the whole dynamic of the "resale implications."

[TheOverdog]

It's clear that many other relatively conveniently located suburbs that are still quite affordable.

Is this clear? I don't think it is. I guess the best you could say is that the relatively inconveniently located suburbs are still affordable.